Sunday, February 4, 2018

A Grave Search

Title: A Grave Search
Author: Wendy Roberts
Published: January 29th 2018 by Carina Press
Format: eBook, 230 pages
Genre: Supernatural Thriller
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Bodies of Evidence #2

After the shocking ending of the last book “A Grave Calling”, Julie Hall’s needs are few and with enough inheritance to buy a small home on the outskirts of a new town, a new jeep, self-help motivation audio books, and food for her dog, everything else should be manageable with her new online business of finding bodies with her dowsing rods.

Ebba Johansson is desperately searching for her missing daughter Ava who was last seen getting into the car of her ex-boyfriend. After the ransom was paid, her daughter was not returned, only a large puddle of blood was where the money had been left. In a last grasp for hope, she shows up on Julie’s front porch and will not take no for an answer.

Mother-daughter relationships are not an easy subject for Julie which usually causes dark quicksand thoughts and a hard tug towards wine. Her own mother left her with abusive grandparents when she was six, and hoping that she would come back one day, only caused her grief. She was told that her mother had died, yet that might not be the whole truth. As Julie is trying to find Ava, she is also in a desperate search to track down leads to an ex- drug dealer that sounds suspiciously like her mother.

Relationships are painful for Julie. Why are there always lies and cover-ups? Whom can Julie trust and does she even want to be Julie Hall anymore. Maybe she should just make a fresh start, go back to her birth name of Delma Arsenault, and see where that path leads.

This is a curious series. The writing is not deep and though some of the smokescreens are easy to see through, there is still a fascination with Julie/Delma. Her unique way of finding bodies is not something that is found in other books and her stunted relationships show her fragility yet her determination to overcome her past shows her resilience. If only there was a way to combine this with the creepy atmosphere of Amanda Stevens’ “Graveyard Queen” series, I think Wendy Roberts would have a winning combination.

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